Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 173

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(EDUCATION.) Photograph of Lewis Business College in Indiana. Photograph, 5½ x 8 inches, with caption and credit in the negative, and manuscript caption on verso; worn, creases, 1½-inch crudely repaired tear. Indianapolis, IN, circa 1930s
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Additional Details

The Lewis College of Business was launched in Indianapolis in 1928 under the leadership of Violet T. Lewis, training Black women for office professions. A Detroit campus opened in 1938, and the Indianapolis campus closed a few years later. The school is still in operation today as Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design in Detroit.

This photograph shows 17 Lewis students practicing typing and stenography under the tutelage of several instructors. On the blackboard is written: "Lewis Business College. Our Motto: To Render Service." Also visible are a keyboard diagram poster and a sign advertising the school's curriculum. The photographer was F.M. Kirkpatrick, who was at the stated 619 West Washington address through at least 1935.

The caption on verso (partially cropped) names the founder Violet Lewis, and also states "Aunt Bessie Holloway attending business college." Above one of the women standing in the rear of the photo is written "Bessy Hollo[way]."

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